LA Dispensary Launches The Largest Cannabis Marketing Campaign

For Californians who are now able to purchase recreational weed on their own terms, cannabis has become more of a societal norm now than ever before. While we are just on the cusp of what’s to come, one cannabis company has tried to expedite the process of normalcy and advocacy. All through the power of advertising. In other words, an LA dispensary launches the largest cannabis marketing campaign in history.

MedMen

MedMen is a dispensary with locations throughout Southern California and New York. And this LA dispensary launches the largest cannabis marketing campaign to ring in the new year.

The company has been estimated to have spent over $500,000 already. All from advertising their products on large billboards, vans, and digital print ads. But without even showing their products.

Billboards around LA’s wider metropolitan area display the ads. All feature close-ups of patrons’ faces with calming phrases such as “Relax. It’s legal,” and “Heal. It’s legal.”

And yes, those are actual customers, according to MadMen’s vice president of corporate communications, Daniel Yi, per CNBC.

Yi said the ads aren’t advertising glamorizing weed. Rather, they show it can be a part of everyday culture, for a variety of uses. While the company boasts over 1,000 products including traditional cannabis, skin creams, bath bombs and CBD-infused teas, Yi explained their marketing campaign is bigger than just selling recreational cannabis.

“Many of them have nothing to do with ‘getting high’… This is about giving choice and a safe and inviting environment for adults who want to make cannabis a part of their lives,” Yi said.

Final Hit: LA Dispensary Launches The Largest Cannabis Marketing Campaign

Medicinal cannabis has been prevalent throughout the country for two decades. But the recreational market could have a profound effect on the economy, making MadMen’s advertising costs seem like a nominal fee.

Back in August, MedMen CEO Adam Bierman told CNBC’s “The Profit,” that customers spent, on average, around $85 per visit. And this was before recreational marijuana was legalized.

And for comparison purposes, Colorado raked in over $1.3 billion in 2016 pot sales alone, and their 2017 figures are expected to soar to even greater heights. Additionally, with over a half a billion dollars in tax revenue, the state was able to allocate funds to a wide array of good causes, such as school construction projects, homeless shelters and drug abuse centers.

And California’s own recreational market is expected to dwarf Colorado’s, considering its size and familiarity with the weed market. One research company has even estimated that California’s entire legal weed market could be worth a whopping $6 billion by 2021.

However, Yi maintains that their company’s goal is bigger than just cannabis itself.

“This is not about marijuana,” he said. This is about the people who use cannabis for all the reasons people have used cannabis for hundreds of years. Yes for recreation, just like alcohol, but also for wellness.”